


Baking as Intended

by Ethanol



Category: Love Live! School Idol Festival ALL STARS (Video Game)
Genre: Birthday, F/F, Happy Birthday Kasumi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-22
Updated: 2021-01-22
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:14:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28918167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ethanol/pseuds/Ethanol
Summary: Mama always said gifts were from the heart. With that being said, what would be better than to give a gift both from the heart AND her own two hands?With no further delays, Lanzhu sets to work on her latest passion project.
Relationships: Nakasu Kasumi/Zhong Lanzhu
Comments: 10
Kudos: 9
Collections: Celebrate The Kasupremacy 2021





	Baking as Intended

**Author's Note:**

> The Kasupremacy is upon us, demons, and ya boy is here to deliver
> 
> yeah no surprise no one wanted to take this kasuship for the collection. that is why i took it upon myself to handle it to the utmost of my ability. surprisingly i had fun making this, and big thanks to my friend shu for helping me out on how lanzhu ticks because i was at a loss myself
> 
> enjoy and lemme know what you think

The stage was set, and everything was prepared. Her outfit was nothing short of perfection, as was the rest of her. Lights? Check. Music? Pitch perfect. Only one more thing was left before she could begin.

"All right!" A quick reach of her phone, scrolling through a bookmark she had saved. Now, she was well and truly ready.

Lanzhu clapped her hands, grinning widely at the scene in front of her. "Time for Lanzhu to bake a cake!"

Just as a precaution, she tightened the tie on her outfit, a dark red apron with frills and gold finishes over her home clothes. Lanzhu set her phone down on a stand, the recipe of her desired cake in full view. A layered caramel cake, fitting for the recipient. Why? It was the same color as her hair!

"Step one!" Laznhu read aloud, leaning close to her phone. "Preheat the oven to three-hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit, or one-hundred seventy-five degrees Celsius."

She did just that, a smile on her face. She was off to a flawless start, as expected of herself. Instructions of preparing the needed tools, appliances, and wares went without a hitch, but now came the part to actually add the ingredients.

"White sugar, one and a half cups of butter, and five eggs beaten together in a bowl," Lanzhu read out, turning to her ingredients.

"There's sugar!" she reported to herself happily, setting it apart next to the bowl. "I also have eggs, but these are sticks of butter."

She picked up the chilled butter, soft against her touch. "How do I measure these by cup?"

Lanzhu found a measuring cup amidst her prepared utensils, picking it up and unwrapping the butter. With a slight push, it dropped straight into the glass cup. "That's one cup. I need half more of that, then!"

Excitedly, she grabbed another stick of butter, cutting it in half and dropping it right above the other stick of butter. With that successful, she brought them over to a stand mixer on the corner of her stage: the kitchen counter.

"Mama said to use one of these if the recipe calls for cake." One by one, she dropped the ingredients in accordance with the recipe. How much white sugar did she need? About  _ that _ much, she reckoned. Attaching the hook on and setting it to high, she flicked on the power switch.

Hands on her waist, she looked on proudly as the mixer began incorporating the ingredients. "It said beaten, right? In that case-"

Lanzhu gave a light jab to the bowl amidst mixing. "Take that!"

She giggled, moving back to her phone to read the next part of the recipe. "Let's see... Combine flour, baking powder, and that much salt. Add alternately with milk- Wait, where did the milk come from?"

She scrolled up, finding the list of ingredients. "Oh."

Nodding, Lanzhu continued the recipe, energetically dropping flour, baking powder, milk, and salt in alternation of pouring milk. The mixer kept going as she added them. Well, it did look like cake batter in the few videos she saw, so that was comforting.

"Beat until batter makes ribbons when falling from whisk? Uh..." She looked back, peering into the bowl. It still looked clumpy. She'll give it a few more minutes. Onto the next part of the recipe! "Grease three 9-inch cake pans. You got it!"

Lanzhu hummed one of her songs as she greased the prepared pans, the mixer hummed away, melding the ingredients into a cohesive batter. By the time she checked one more, it had become more like cake batter than before. She flicked off the switch, taking out the bowl and testing for ribbons using her finger.

She hummed in interest, watching the batter pull somewhat with her finger. Not the ribbons she anticipated, but nothing the oven can't fix. She brought the finger to her mouth, tasting her creation before looking back at the recipe. "Now, divide batter into-"

Her throat tightened, pulling her finger back in reflex. Why was it so salty?

Lanzhu looked back at the recipe, going over the steps she had done. "Three and a half cups of flour, baking soda and-" she paused, realizing the small discrepancy of her reading the recipe. "Oh. It's one-fourth of a teaspoon. Not one-fourth of a cup."

She took a moment, looking down at the now-useless batter. "Well, good thing Lanzhu asked to buy a ton of ingredients!"

Without a second thought, she tossed the batter in the trash, clearing everything to start over. She redid everything she had done, except this time she replaced the amount of salt to just one-fourth of a teaspoon. Watching it mix in the stand mixer, Lanzhu looked to the next part of the recipe.

"Combine brown sugar, one cup butter, and one-fourth teaspoon salt in a saucepan over medium heat... Saucepan over medium heat?" She reached into the base cabinet, taking out her only crockery: a wok. "This will do!"

Lanzhu added the ingredients into the wok, leaving it alone to heat up as she returned to the stand mixer. Switching it off, she removed the batter, dipping her finger in for a taste test.

"...This has raw eggs," Lanzhu remarked to herself, swishing the taste in her mouth. It tasted buttery, completely unlike caramel. She put the bowl down, hearing a low gurgle from the oven. "Ah, that!"

She rushed to switch it off, looking past the buildup of smoke to see the burnt sugar and butter. Glancing back at her recipe, she noticed the following instruction. "Stir continuously for three minutes before adding milk... I see."

Lanzhu took a step back, looking up to the clock on her kitchen wall. It was now 10:25. She had roughly 10 hours left, and she needed her beauty sleep. With a nod, she took the wok, holding it over the sink and turning on the tap. A sharp hiss pooled vapor to the ceiling as cold water came into contact with the searing metal. After confirming the wok was clean of burnt sugar, she returned it to the oven, switching it on.

"Okay, once more!" She added more brown sugar, butter, and a pinch of salt back into the wok. This time, she kept a constant attention, stirring continually with a steel spoon as the sugar began to melt. Every now and again she checked the clock for three minute to pass, leaving the wok to retrieve milk from the fridge. Only, there was a slight problem.

"What milk do I use?" In her hands were two types of milk, the regular kind she'd drink in the morning and cream milk for baking. Well, this is baking, so should she use the latter? But the recipe did only say milk.

Busy with her thoughts, Lanzhu didn’t notice the burning smell until it was too late, she turned back to the oven, rushing over to turn the burner off. Smoke whisked up to the ceiling. She hoped it wouldn't trigger the fire alarm.

Setting both milk cartons down, Lanzhu reached for her phone, dialing a number with fingers covered with sugar. She listened to the dial tone of two intervals before the call connected. What greeted her was the usual groan of disdain.

"Lanzhu, why are you calling-"

"Mia!" she greeted, cutting her off. "I mentioned to you what I would be doing for tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah?" Mia answered, confused. Then, worry. " _ Shit _ , don't tell me you set fire to something?"

Lanzhu looked over to the black substance on the wok. "Nope! It's going perfectly."

"Then, why are you calling? It's almost eleven."

She nodded, as if nothing was wrong with that. "Do you still have your supply of what we brought from America?"

A short silence followed in the call, a sigh breaking it on the other side of the line. "What about it?"

"Bring six of it to my dorm," Lanzhu all but ordered, pulling away from her phone to end the call. She smiled, unaware of the protesting swears of English on the other side of the line before she dropped the call. "Right, time to continue!"

Lanzhu reached for the bag of sugar, surprised at the light weight. It didn't deter her enthusiasm as he began pouring more of it into the wok. She stirred continuously for three minutes, electing to add the cream milk before continuing the stir. Her groove of stirring the concoction was disturbed by a ring on her doorbell. She pulled back from the kitchen, walking to the front door to answer.

Throwing open the door, she greeted the annoyed frown with a smile. "Mia! Took you long enough. Did you bring what I asked?"

Shifting the item in question in front of her chest, Mia nodded. "Why do you need six cans of Monster Energy to bake a cake?"

"Oh, this isn't for the cake," Lanzhu explained, taking the box off her hands. "This is so I can be awake enough to bake the cake!"

"I see?" Mia said, unconvinced. Peering past her, lavender eyes scanned the room. She sniffed the air, visibly recoiling. "I thought you were done trying to subdue the school idol club, Lanzhu."

"What?" She laughed, walking back inside with the box of Monster Energy. "Don't be silly, Mia. This time, I am preparing something wonderful. Come, give it a look!"

With a deep sigh, Mia entered her room, closing the door and following Lanzhu to the kitchen. What met her was a mess of opened ingredients, a trashcan filled with batter, and a wok over the burner bubbling suspiciously. "Uh, what the hell am I looking at?"

"Cake!" Lanzhu answered with her usual confidence. She set the box on the counter, taking one can out and cracking open her first Monster Energy of the evening. She took a long sip, smiling in content as she drank. "Ah, refreshing!"

"Right..." Mia looked over, noticing the strong smell of melted sugar in the air. " _ Caramel? _ " she remarked in English, earning her a nod from Lanzhu.

"That's right! Isn't it an enticing flavor to make? It is, isn't it?"

"Why's there batter leaking from the trash?"

"A small mistake, nothing to take note of!"

Not wanting to be involved further, Mia excused herself before leaving. She made strong reminders to herself not to eat the cake tomorrow, no matter how much she was forced to. Lanzhu waved goodbye with one hand, the other tilting up the can of Monster Energy for her to drink. With the shock of a chilled beverage, she returned to baking.

Her enthusiasm never left her with the help of continually drinking Monster Energy, even as the hours ticked past midnight and she had exhausted most of her ingredients, Lanzhu still had a bright smile on her face.

She opened the oven, taking out the three cake pans with mittens. This was her second attempt at sticking the pans in the oven. On her first try, the full thirty minutes yielding a cake that was still raw in the middle. Leaving it on for more left the edges burnt, so she decided to scrap this batter and restarted, going faster with repetition aiding her movements.

Lanzhu took a step back, sliding the newest attempt of baking in the oven. After closing the oven door, she emptied her fifth can of Monster Energy. "That should be perfect!"

She looked on the kitchen counter, smiling on the mess of emptied ingredients, spilled batter, and the strange burning smell. At this point, the trash was filled to the brim with wasted batter, and she was on her last can of Monster Energy. A quick look at the clock revealed that it was nearing 2 AM in the morning.

With exhausted ingredients and her oven starting to make odd noises, Lanzhu hoped this attempt would be a success. She paced around the room, cracking open the last can and taking a long swig. Why was she doing this, again?

Lanzhu shrugged. A common courtesy among school idols, she supposed. Of course, no one asked her to do this, but to see their grateful faces from her efforts was a scene she fantasized with anticipation. It would become a reality come tomorrow, and with this cake that she'd complete, it would be worth the numerous restarts.

Her alarm buzzed, snapping her out from her reverie. Lanzhu set the half-full can of Monster Energy on the counter, slipping on her oven mitts, and retrieving the cake pans. She stuck a toothpick in the middle, counting down under her breath before pulling it out.

Clean. A smile was on her face. She did it.

"As expected!" Lanzhu said with satisfaction, brushing away the empty bags of ingredients and setting up a tin tray. As she waited for the cake to cool, she whipped up the icing left on the wok, adding what was left of the sugar to make it sweeter. Was it a part of the recipe? Who knows? Her phone is lost somewhere in the wrapping.

She patted the cake, feeling a gentle warmth. It was cool enough, so she set to work coating the first layer with the icing, performing a messy process of stacking up the three cakes atop one another with uneven amounts of caramel icing in between.

Lanzhu gave a quick inspection, noticing the cake lean slightly to the left. Nothing more icing can't fix.

"Wait." She looked down, noticing that she was running out of icing. Her eyes landed on the Monster Energy. A second later, she had emptied its contents into the bowl, mixing it together. "Nothing like a little something extra!"

As the clock struck 3 AM, Lanzhu took a step back at her. Perhaps, the Monster Energy wasn't the ideal alternative, evident from how the prior work had become soggy and unstable. She looked around the kitchen, noting how everything had been used up, her final results in front of her eyes and deteriorating.

Without hesitation, Lanzhu searched for her phone, picking it up with fingers of icing and dialing a number. "Hello! You are mama's preferred confectionery, correct?"

* * *

The next morning, or what was a few hours later for Lanzhu, the school idols of Nijigasaki gathered in the open gardens for a celebration. Each brought with them something special, creating a banquet that brought noises of awe to everyone there.

In the middle was Lanzhu's contribution, a lovely caramel birthday cake. Work on the icing was phenomenal, the arrangements of frosting decoration around lettering were appealing to the eye. In all the sense of the word, it was professional.

As Kasumi, the birthday girl, saw the birthday cake with her name, she thought it to be a little too professional. "Who uh, made the cake?"

"Me!" Lanzhu raised a hand, smiling with anticipation. "Feel free to thank me for my work, everyone!"

Kasumi raised a brow, noticing the bags beneath Lanzhu's eyes. She exchanged glances with other members of the club, all silently deciding to say nothing.

Mia stood beside Lanzhu, nudging her on the side and leaning close to whisper. "Say Lanzhu, did you bake that cake, or did you order it?"

Lanzhu pulled the younger girl to the side, dropping her voice to a sharp, but subdued tone. "Shh, Mia! Don't let them find out!"

A curious brow was sent her way. "Did the baking not go too hot?" A nod answered her in silence. "Was it the Monster Energy?"

"Nothing of the sort, Mia! Don’t be dumb." Lanzhu moved away, rejoining the festivities of the other school idols- and Yu. "Hey, Kasumi!"

"Y-yeah?" Kasumi stammered, flinching to attention.

"Do you like the cake? It's wonderful, right?" Lanzhu asked, a waiting smile on her face.

Someone shot Kasumi an understanding look, and she dropped her gaze, nodding slow. "Kasumin loves it!"

"I knew you would!" Lanzhu perked up, grinning energetically. "It's caramel, see? The same color as your hair."

**Author's Note:**

> stop dislike bombing the queendom mv cowards, it's a bop of a song


End file.
